Calvin Pickard is leaving Las Vegas…and heading to Toronto.

Friday afternoon the Toronto Maple Leafs announced they had made a trade with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The deal is for the Leafs to acquire goaltender Calvin Pickard for Tobias Lindberg and a 6th round pick in 2018.

The @MapleLeafs have acquired goaltender Calvin Pickard from Vegas for forward Tobias Lindberg & a 6th-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Pickard, 25 years old, cleared waivers earlier in the day before the trade was announced.

Why not just claim him on waivers? By waiting for Pickard to clear waivers for Vegas, this allows the Leafs to put him directly in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies. Which is what they announced they would be doing.

Pickard, a native of Moncton New Brunswick, is a RFA at the end of the 2017-18 season. Considered one of the ‘good finds’ during the expansion draft, it is uncertain why the Vegas team got rid of him so quickly.

With the addition, the Marlies now have three goalies who are capable of starting an carrying the load in the AHL.

Incumbent starter Garret Sparks just signed a 2 year deal worth 675,000 per. And new(ish) face Kasimir Kaskisuo carried the ball during the AHL Playoffs after Sparks was hurt.

Where do all of these goalies fall in the depth chart, unsure but it means Head Coach Sheldon Keefe gets to juggle goalies again this year in the AHL.

The Marlies lose Tobias Lindberg, who they obtained from the Senators. The big bodied winger never really produced as much as the Marlies would have preferred, and with a glut of scoring wingers on the roster, he was deemed expendable.

Interesting deal to say the least. What shoe drops next?

And who heads to Orlando to get some more minutes……of is a trade on the horizon?

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